Fish oils don't boost brain power

Fish oils don't boost brain power

来源：未知 作者：南宫洵 时间：2019-03-01 02:03:02

By Alyssa Botelho THERE’S something fishy about fish oils. Omega-3s – the fatty acids found in fish and nuts, oft touted as brain boosters – don’t appear to slow mental decline. Eric Ammann at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and colleagues analysed omega-3 levels in blood samples taken from 2000 women aged 60 to 80. Over six years, the women took tests that measured movement, speech and memory. No difference in cognition was found between women with high and low levels of omega-3 at the start of the study, nor in how quickly cognitive skills declined in people with consistently low or high omega-3 (Neurology, in press). It may be that people who eat lots of fish and nuts are more affluent and health-conscious. Those factors could be the true force behind studies that seem to show omega-3s’ protective effect on cognition, says Ammann. This article appeared in print under the headline “Fish oils have a whiff of snake oil” More on these topics: